"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Vince Miller's Super Team
March 1st, 2009
Lake Ouachita
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
19th place - 5 bass - 12.39 pounds
Practice:
February 20th: I went down to Ouachita to exercise some demons from last week's poor MBOA
finish. I started up the mainstem of the Ouachita River and started chucking Jackall crankbaits
around - It was on!!! Within 45-minutes I had 5 keepers in the boat on a Jackall Muscle Deep 7+.
Just to see what would happen, I started chucking the MC/60 around and quickly added 2 more
good fish. Late in the day I was able to add one more on the Muscle 7+ that went over 3-pounds, so
my best 5 went around 14.5 - 15 pounds. A fun day to say the least.
February 28th: I met Jeremy at Shangri-La at 7:30 AM. The weather conditions had deteriorated
significantly! It was about 40 degrees with a 20 mph wind! We started way up the South Fork and I
was able to catch our first 2 keepers on a Jewel Eakins' Jig. When I say keepers, I mean small
13-inchers. Not exactly what we were looking for. We made our way down the South Fork and
quickly figured out a jerkbait pattern. It was really predictable as the fish were set up in certain
locations by the wind. The Jackall Squad Minnow 115 was catching them at will. By the end of the
day we had boated 15 - 20 keepers with our best 5 only going around 10-pounds. We knew that we
were going to have to do something different to be competitive....
Tournament:
March 1st: The morning dawned COLD. The temp was around 20 degrees and the wind was
blowing on top of that. It was hard to get motivated!!! After the mind numbing boat ride (thank the
heavens for Fish Head Masks!!) we started on a little channel swing in the South Fork. We thought
that the cold front was going to make for a tough bite, but that was not the case. We boated our 5th
fish around 8:30 AM and quickly went to culling. Jeremy was dialed in on the jerkbait bite and put
keeper after keeper in the boat. Around 10:00 AM he nailed a good 2.75 pounder, which culled us
up to around 10-pounds. We decided to do something different, so we ran up to some dirty water in
the South Fork. I started throwing the MC/60 around and quickly nailed a 2.5 pounder. Jeremy put
down his jerkbait and started throwing a Wiggle Wart. He quickly hooked and lost a fish. No problem
- it happens. We continued down the bank and Jeremy hooks up again and the fish comes
unbuttoned. He is frustrated now and changes his hooks. While he was putting on new hardware I
got up to the front of the boat and hooked a good one. "Get the net", I yelled. "I can't I've got a
cluster mess back here", ha said fumbling around with his gear! Anyway the fish was barely hooked
but I got it in the boat anyway. "Will you at least cull our smallest fish", I asked. "No way" he replied.
So I have to get my own fish in the boat AND cull... It is becoming apparent that Jeremy is not a very
good fish caddy! Oh well, we wound up with a little over 12-pounds and another mediocre finish...
Keeper Count:
Megabass 110: 13 keepers
Jackall Squad Minnow 115 (Charteuse Shad): 3 keepers
Jackall MC/60 MR (Super Crawfish): 2 keepers
Storm Wiggle Wart: 1 keeper
Final Thoughts:
While the last three tournaments have been fun and lots of keepers have found the boat, that and
a dollar in change still won't get me a cup of coffee. We caught 19 keepers and didn't have one
3-pound bite.....That's hard to do!!!
See Ya' on the Flip Side,
Frank Leone
March 1st, 2009
Lake Ouachita
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
19th place - 5 bass - 12.39 pounds
Practice:
February 20th: I went down to Ouachita to exercise some demons from last week's poor MBOA
finish. I started up the mainstem of the Ouachita River and started chucking Jackall crankbaits
around - It was on!!! Within 45-minutes I had 5 keepers in the boat on a Jackall Muscle Deep 7+.
Just to see what would happen, I started chucking the MC/60 around and quickly added 2 more
good fish. Late in the day I was able to add one more on the Muscle 7+ that went over 3-pounds, so
my best 5 went around 14.5 - 15 pounds. A fun day to say the least.
February 28th: I met Jeremy at Shangri-La at 7:30 AM. The weather conditions had deteriorated
significantly! It was about 40 degrees with a 20 mph wind! We started way up the South Fork and I
was able to catch our first 2 keepers on a Jewel Eakins' Jig. When I say keepers, I mean small
13-inchers. Not exactly what we were looking for. We made our way down the South Fork and
quickly figured out a jerkbait pattern. It was really predictable as the fish were set up in certain
locations by the wind. The Jackall Squad Minnow 115 was catching them at will. By the end of the
day we had boated 15 - 20 keepers with our best 5 only going around 10-pounds. We knew that we
were going to have to do something different to be competitive....
Tournament:
March 1st: The morning dawned COLD. The temp was around 20 degrees and the wind was
blowing on top of that. It was hard to get motivated!!! After the mind numbing boat ride (thank the
heavens for Fish Head Masks!!) we started on a little channel swing in the South Fork. We thought
that the cold front was going to make for a tough bite, but that was not the case. We boated our 5th
fish around 8:30 AM and quickly went to culling. Jeremy was dialed in on the jerkbait bite and put
keeper after keeper in the boat. Around 10:00 AM he nailed a good 2.75 pounder, which culled us
up to around 10-pounds. We decided to do something different, so we ran up to some dirty water in
the South Fork. I started throwing the MC/60 around and quickly nailed a 2.5 pounder. Jeremy put
down his jerkbait and started throwing a Wiggle Wart. He quickly hooked and lost a fish. No problem
- it happens. We continued down the bank and Jeremy hooks up again and the fish comes
unbuttoned. He is frustrated now and changes his hooks. While he was putting on new hardware I
got up to the front of the boat and hooked a good one. "Get the net", I yelled. "I can't I've got a
cluster mess back here", ha said fumbling around with his gear! Anyway the fish was barely hooked
but I got it in the boat anyway. "Will you at least cull our smallest fish", I asked. "No way" he replied.
So I have to get my own fish in the boat AND cull... It is becoming apparent that Jeremy is not a very
good fish caddy! Oh well, we wound up with a little over 12-pounds and another mediocre finish...
Keeper Count:
Megabass 110: 13 keepers
Jackall Squad Minnow 115 (Charteuse Shad): 3 keepers
Jackall MC/60 MR (Super Crawfish): 2 keepers
Storm Wiggle Wart: 1 keeper
Final Thoughts:
While the last three tournaments have been fun and lots of keepers have found the boat, that and
a dollar in change still won't get me a cup of coffee. We caught 19 keepers and didn't have one
3-pound bite.....That's hard to do!!!
See Ya' on the Flip Side,
Frank Leone